The hallmark of an inquisitive Jew is his or her questions. Few educators have encountered such an enormous range of questions from newcomers to Judaism as Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, Educational Director of the Jewish Enrichment Center in New York City.

In this capacity, Rabbi Hajioff teaches and fields questions from streams of young Jewish men and women every year, most of whom have recently returned from the Birthright Israel experience.

Moreover, in Rabbi Hajioff’s faculty role at Stern College for Women, he addresses on-going questions from his students studying Jewish philosophy.

Rabbi Hajioff encounters even more questions while leading nearly numerous learning trips to Israel and Poland for young men and women from New York. Many of his students go on to date and marry, and he tackles tough questions as he counsels and prepares these young couples for their future lives together.

In addition, Rabbi Hajioff has noticed that many young adults never had the opportunity to celebrate a Bar or Bat Mitz­vah when they were younger. So he created a Bar and Bat Mitzvah program introducing 350 adults to their heritage, increasing their knowledge of Jewish tradition, and adding to his list of questions and answers.

Rabbi Hajioff explains why he wrote Jew Got Questions: “If the thousands of peo­ple I come into contact with yearly ask me questions, then obviously there are many more people out there who have been troubled by the same questions.” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks warmly endorses the book, “Asking questions is the Jewish habit par excellence, and we are blessed by having a rabbi as wise as Lawrence Hajioff to guide us through the answers.”

NLEResources.com will be featuring the following chapters of Jew Got Questions over the next several weeks via download or reading online: Love, Dating, and Marriage; Your Soul and How to Take Care of It; Torah and Mitzvot; and Out of This World – It’s About Time and Space.